“That won’t help,” Arnie said, putting his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “There was no way to know he’d switched the tracker.”
They were standing outside the home of a very frightened real estate agent whose office was in the same building where their detective agency was housed. Of course, being questioned by the St. Louis chief of police would intimidate anyone. Trying to explain the mix-up certainly hadn’t helped the situation much. Maybe mentioning that they were tracking a dangerous serial killer had been a mistake.
“Our killer knows,” Tony said. “He’s aware that we know who he is. That just makes him even more dangerous.”
Arnie’s phone rang and he quickly answered. He grunted a couple of times and then said, “Try to reassure them that everything’s okay.” Then he hung up.
“What?” Tony asked.
“River’s car is parked in front of her house. The driver’s door is open, and her purse is on the passenger seat. Her phone’s on the ground, smashed to pieces. Her mother and her caregiver are extremely upset. I told Jimmy to go inside and try to reassure them.” He sighed. “So, what do we know? He’s driving a dark blue late model Buick. He’s parked somewhere near the river, probably no farther than thirty minutes from here. And . . .”
Just then, a detective got out of the car across the street and jogged over. “We’ve got his license plate number,” the detective said. “What do you want us to do now, sir?”
“Put out a BOLO on the car and the suspect. Also, add River Ryland to the order. I want squads to check parks, pull overs, anyplace along the river within a twenty-mile radius.”
“Lights and sirens?”
Arnie looked at Tony. “I don’t think we have a choice. I know it’s a gamble. If he hears us coming, he might decide to move faster.”
“You mean kill her right away.” Tony’s statement was said as a fact, not as a question.
Arnie didn’t respond to his statement. “We’ve got to get going.”
Tony just nodded. His mind raced, trying to find a way to save River’s life, but without divine intervention, he couldn’t see any way for River Ryland to survive the night.
CHAPTER
FORTY-SIX
When she came to, she looked out the window of his car. He was turning onto a road that led toward the Mississippi River. Parks were popular places during the summer, but in the winter, they were almost completely deserted. He pulled into a parking area and then got out. He opened her door and grabbed her by the arm, yanking hard. Unfortunately, her seat belt was still fastened. His arm drew back, the gun in his hand.
“No!” she said loudly. She quickly fumbled with the belt, her fingers trembling with the cold and mounting fear. When the latch finally clicked, he pulled her out so quickly she almost got caught by the belt wrapping around her neck.
Once she was free, she looked around them. The parking area was deserted. Where was Tony? Why hadn’t he followed them?
Swearing loudly, he began shoving her toward the river. She slipped twice on the snow, but both times he roughly pulled her to her feet.
“Knock it off,” he yelled.
“I’m not slipping on purpose. The ground’s icy and you’re pushing me.”
They finally reached a group of trees near the water, where he stopped. There were lights on poles back in the parking area, but here they were mostly in the dark. He let go of her but kept the gun leveled at her chest. Her face hurt where he’d hit her, but she had no intention of letting him know that.
“So, now you can ask your questions,” he said. “I would enjoy answering them.” His grin was demonic. Taunting.
“Is Joseph Baker angry that he didn’t kill me? Did he order you to finish the job?” River was upset that her voice shook, but she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t just the icy temperature. She was attempting to fight the fear that was trying to wrap its arms around her. She was holding on to God’s promises with all the strength she had. It seemed that He was the only one who could save her now.
His harsh laugh cut through the frigid air, his warm breath surrounding them like some kind of eerie smoke from a horror movie.
“You don’t get it, do you? Joseph Baker isn’t the Salt River Strangler.”
As soon as the words left his lips, River finally understood. Once she and Tony realized who the man standing in front of her was, there’d been one question they couldn’t answer. But now that she knew the truth, she became painfully aware that they should have figured it out sooner. Much sooner
“I thought you were both trained FBI profilers,” he said in a low voice. The lights from the parking lot highlighted his features, making his face look like a Halloween mask, created to generate feelings of terror. It was working. “You blew it. And now you’re going to die because of your failure. Not so cocky now, are you?”
“You’re the Strangler. Baker is your minion. That’s why he allowed himself to take the fall.”
“Don’t be mistaken. He killed his fair share of women—but only at my direction. When I told him my plan, he went along with it. He’d die before he’d let me down. Of course, now it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“But why? Why save us, David? You could have let Tony and me die.”
He grinned. “You believed there was only one killer. I wanted you to know how wrong you were. Destroying your self-righteousness was a pleasure.”
River kept glancing back up toward the street and he noticed.
“Ah, you’re watching for your friend Tony . . . and the police? I’m sorry, my dear, but they won’t be coming. Did you think I wouldn’t find the tracker you put on my car? Right now, your friends are chasing some poor schmuck who runs a real estate agency. I slapped your tracker on his car. It was parked next to mine in the parking lot. You don’t seem to be wired, but even if you were, it wouldn’t do you any good. You won’t be found in time.”
She wasn’t wired. They’d been afraid he would check for that—and he had. Still, she couldn’t stop watching the road behind him, praying that she’d see lights.
He laughed again. “Seriously, you can quit looking for your backup. No one’s coming.”
Suddenly, River began to feel a sense of peace. The prayer Tony had prayed seemed to grow inside her. She could swear she could hear him talking to her. Reassuring her. No matter what, God was with her, and she trusted Him. Knowing she wasn’t really alone as she stood next to the massive river helped her to confront the terror that was trying to eat at her faith. She would be okay. Even if she left this life, she’d step into the next one, where she would find herself in the arms of her Savior. No one, not even the Salt River Strangler, could take that away from her.
“So, you accomplished what you wanted. You shook our confidence. Let us find out there were two killers instead of one. So why murder me now?”
“I played with you for a while—the way a cat toys with a mouse before he kills it. But I have other goals. I want to ramp up my body count. Become a legend. I had to wait for you. For this. But now it’s over.” He laughed. “And before you ask, yes. I killed your friend Jacki, after she told me what I wanted to know. She’s still in the river. Too bad you’ll never find her.”
She had already suspected Jacki was dead, but her eyes filled with tears at hearing him confirm it.
